CVE-2018-9270 in Wireshark
Summary
by MITRE
In Wireshark 2.4.0 to 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 to 2.2.13, epan/oids.c has a memory leak.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 02/26/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2018-9270 represents a memory leak flaw discovered in Wireshark versions ranging from 2.4.0 through 2.4.5 and 2.2.0 through 2.2.13. This issue resides within the epan/oids.c file, which is part of Wireshark's core protocol dissector components responsible for handling object identifier (OID) information during packet analysis. The memory leak occurs when processing certain network protocols that utilize OID values, particularly those involving X.509 certificates and related cryptographic protocols. This flaw demonstrates a classic software engineering oversight where allocated memory for OID processing structures is not properly released, leading to gradual memory consumption over time.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from improper memory management within the OID handling subsystem of Wireshark's protocol dissection engine. When Wireshark encounters network traffic containing OID information, the epan/oids.c module allocates memory to store and process these identifiers but fails to consistently free this memory upon completion of processing. This memory allocation pattern creates a condition where each processed packet containing OID data contributes to a growing memory footprint within the Wireshark application. The flaw is particularly concerning because Wireshark is frequently used for extended network monitoring sessions where the application processes thousands or millions of packets, causing the memory leak to compound over time and eventually leading to system performance degradation or application crashes.
The operational impact of this memory leak vulnerability extends beyond simple resource consumption issues to potentially affect network monitoring operations and system stability. During prolonged network analysis sessions, the cumulative effect of memory leaks can cause Wireshark to consume increasing amounts of system RAM, potentially leading to system slowdowns, application crashes, or even system instability if the memory consumption reaches critical thresholds. Network security analysts and engineers who rely on Wireshark for continuous monitoring may experience unexpected application termination or degraded performance during extended capture sessions. This vulnerability also creates a potential denial of service scenario where an attacker could potentially exploit the memory leak by crafting specific network traffic patterns that trigger the vulnerable code path repeatedly, leading to resource exhaustion.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2018-9270 should prioritize immediate software updates to versions of Wireshark that have addressed this memory leak issue. Users should upgrade to Wireshark 2.4.6 or 2.2.14, which contain the necessary patches to resolve the memory management issue in epan/oids.c. System administrators should also implement monitoring solutions to track memory consumption patterns of Wireshark processes during extended capture sessions, enabling early detection of potential memory leak impacts. Additionally, network monitoring teams should consider implementing periodic restart procedures for Wireshark applications during long-running captures to prevent memory accumulation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-401, which specifically addresses improper memory management, and represents a typical example of how memory leaks can compromise application stability and resource availability. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability could be leveraged by adversaries to perform resource exhaustion attacks against network monitoring systems, potentially impacting defensive capabilities. Organizations should also consider implementing process isolation and resource limiting mechanisms for network analysis tools to minimize the impact of such memory leak vulnerabilities on overall system stability.